Necessary Skills for Students (It’s not just academics)

Students need three different kinds of skills to succeed in life:

·         Academic- Every student needs some academics. High achieving kids focus on rigorous academics, but even students with disabilities need minimal reading and math skills, and some can handle even more.

·         Vocational- there are two kinds of vocational skills

v  Income-generating vocational skills- auto mechanics, culinary arts, handicrafts, technology (keyboarding, data entry, graphic design, etc), painting, carpentry, construction, etc, etc

v  Everyday vocational skills-

§  Organizational skills- This involves both mental and physical organization.

·         Mental organization is the ability to plan, visualize where things are, foresee problems, anticipate the next step and be ready for it

·         Physical organization is the ability to keep backpacks, files, binders, assignments, papers, and all other school and personal supplies neatly organized, and to be able to find and produce the right paper at the necessary moment

§  Time management- The ability to track multiple due dates and plan for completion by each due date

§  Project management- Know the various steps from the beginning to the end of a project or assignment. If a big project has multiple and simultaneous steps, then it is the ability to keep track of it all, and get to the end successfully

§  Attention span- Projects and long school assignments take a week, a month, or even a semester to complete. The student has to keep attending to it over a long span of time, even over weekends and holidays.

·         Life skills- Teamwork, asking for help, telling time, handling money, balancing the check book, managing due dates, checking schedules, cooking skills, shopping, conducting transactions, resolving conflicts, cleaning, etc

Schools do a good job of imparting academics indiscriminately. One size fits all. In fact, students who cannot absorb the intensity of academics are made to feel like misfits in school. It almost feels like the fire hose of academics is turned on at full blast, and it has no other speed.

Students who can handle this level of academics can also absorb the vocational and life skills necessary without explicit instruction. So, schools which cater to academically inclined students do not focus on teaching them the auxiliary skills necessary for success. But students with special needs do need explicit and direct instruction to learn the soft skills. And they don’t really need the intense level of academics. While every student needs all these skills, the stress is different for different kids.

Why, then, do schools cater to only one kind of student? Isn’t it our responsibility to equip every student to become an independent and productive citizen?